Fresh ways of thinking about Jews and gender worldwide

In Consideration of “Going Rogue” this Passover

It’s time. This is when we dig through the family recipe box, or “Google,” to find the perfect charoset recipe, hunt down a more challenging location to hide the afikomen, and locate the right person to get the shank bone this year: not Uncle Alan who purchased chicken wings last year. The rituals, even when they can be hassles in our chaotic lives, comfort many of us. Here we are again, preparing for this same, age-old ceremony conducted by millions of other Jews on the same night. It’s pretty amazing, really.

While plenty of Jews prefer to replicate the same experience every year, many others search for new rituals that will connect the story of the Exodus to current times: whether it’s finding a way to tie in the Ukraine; reading new poetry or excerpts about freedom; baking Matzo Almond Brittle from Gourmet magazine; passing out toy plagues (here’s your plastic frog and locust!) to the kids; or asking an additional “Four Questions” like, “When have you most longed for home?” to dinner guests.

We often get so set in our Jewish ritual ways that we forget, or never acknowledge in the first place, that we have the right to make up our own. Yes, there is beauty in following the same actions and re-making the same Seder plate every single year. But there is also comfort, joy and exhilaration that arise from establishing new Jewish rituals, ones that may be even more meaningful.

One of the aspects I love about editing 614 is the constant challenge of coming up with “fresh ways of thinking about Jews and gender,” the HBI mission. Last fall, I wrote an essay about adapting the Rosh Hashanah ritual of Tashlikh, casting away our sins symbolically by throwing breadcrumbs into the water. I took my pre-teen daughter to a lake and replaced “sins” with “bad feelings about my body.” We vowed to have kinder, gentler thoughts about our bodies this year. If you have or know a pre-teen daughter, you understand what a pressing issue this can be. I heard back from many moms saying they will replicate this idea, and wondered what other ritual adaptions I could share.
So, for the current issue of 614, we partnered with Ritualwell.org, and included rituals that mark the loss we feel when we move away; help us connect with family members at dinner time; honor a child’s transition to double digits; and celebrate the end of cancer treatment with a mikveh. In past issues, we have asked our readers “What would you make the 614th commandment?” and pondered surprising “aha Jewish moments.” If there’s a new way to think about living our lives as Jewish women, we want to explore it.

If you like your rituals traditional, that’s fine. Keep going. But if they sometimes feel rote, give yourself permission to change the rituals—or make new ones—that feel meaningful. I know, I know, it can feel like one more thing to add to our spilling-over to-do list. It’s much easier to go with the flow and follow directives. But, if we want religion to be a significant and valuable part of our lives, we must keep finding ways to make it relevant for our families and ourselves.